We've spent the last few years working on Nights of the Crusades, and it's finally at the point where we can release a Beta version to get some (any?) feedback. Before we can do a proper release, we'd like others to share their experiences with it and let us know if anything needs to be ironed out (ie; a bit of play-testing). Any typo's, concerns, inaccuracies or other things that cross your mind are also welcome!

Here's the description from the Introduction:

"Nights of the Crusades is a roleplaying game set in a land and time that is familiar on the surface, but within its cracks lie tales of sorcery, madness and violence. It is a world that could have happened and then been lost to barbarity and time. Players take on characters that can explore the places involved in the Crusades, from Egypt, through to Damascus and Jerusalem. The Tale-Weaver is their guide, allowing them to unearth the horrors of war and fanaticism as they pursue their goals. As the main characters come across storytellers in their travels, they will take part in a new story within the story of their main narrative. Magic, djinn and foul beasts lurk within the minds of the storytellers, yet many secrets and shards of knowledge can be found within these tales.

And the real world is not free from horror. The land is rife with dark cults, creatures that dwell in unseen places and bloodthirsty warriors. This is a time when anyone’s thoughts, from king to slave, are enough to condemn them to death and hell, and many are they that will line up to cheer the execution. Nights of the Crusades is a mixture of the Arabian Nights, the history surrounding the Crusades and both modern and ancient tales of terror.

The rules hope to reflect mature and gritty issues that are not catered to in many popular RPGs, such as the psychological impacts of combat and killing. The gameplay also allows for tension in every form of conflict, whether verbal or physical. A group of companions made up of an artist, diplomat and physician will be as enjoyable to play as one made up of a warrior, archer and thief."

We're hoping that the interest RPGers had for settings like Dark Sun and Al-Quadim might make Nights of the Crusades appealing to the groups of players who like fantasy set in grim, harsh environments.

It sounds great. But I'd be really interested in seeing is if disciplines need to be refined or if anyone can come up with a character that dominates really easily and therefore limits the use of other character-types. Whatever it may be the attribute and Discipline selection is quite good.

I like a lot of the ideas in this project and would like to give you feedback, but scrolling through the PDF is slow as hell. I think it's because of the images that comprise the borders. I don't suppose you have a more skim-friendly version without the images, or with the images at lower resolution?

From the intro and table of contents, these are the things that jump out at me, that I intend to read more about:

- Intoxicants get their own section in the equipment chapter? That's different.

- Stories within stories? Cool. How does that work?

- One the one hand: Character motives: riches, power, destruction, knowledge, righteousness, virtue. Sounds like the stuff I've done in adventuring quests. On the other hand: The GM shows me the horrors of war and fanaticism? If that's background for my quests, I grok that. If part of what I do with my character is face such horrors first-hand, I dunno how that coexists with questing.

- Skill rolls concern detecting allegiance, understanding gibbering fools, and protecting your stuff from goats. Not sure what it all adds up to, but the focus is interesting.

- Hey, negotiations seem to be a big deal. Neat.

- Target numbers are called Apexes? I hope that won't be too hard for me to remember.

The lack of any specific question or request from you leaves me kinda drifting between whatever items pique my interest, and I'm not sure where to start. I hope to pick something eventually. If I forget, feel free to remind me.

Thanks for the replies! We've been getting some pretty constructive feedback over the past month or so. I'd probably recommend downloading the pdf (if it's an option) and viewing it in PDF Reader, rather than a browser window - as big files don't work for me very often either when viewed that way.

There's a big post over here (http://rpggeek.com/thread/723051/nights-of-the-crusades) that sums up a lot of the feedback (ie; the setting is interesting, but the rules need to be more refined). So we're in the process of a bit of a rules overhaul that simplifies a lot of the gameplay. We're also working on integrating the 'Story-World' into the 'Real-World' more smoothly.

The plan is to have the next version out in early January, along with the website, but if there's anything that you want to comment on - please post it up!